Basic questions and solutions of electricity supplied in the agricultural sector

People-oriented guidance: - H.S. Patel IAS (Retd.)

Quality, Uninterrupted

Changes in the current agricultural zoning system are inevitable

Continued from the past

As mentioned in the previous article about electricity supplied to Gujarat's agriculture sector through four state government owned power distribution companies (Discoms) as well as technical and commercial matters of the entire power sector. The zoning system (including rotation to night zones) was introduced as part of load management, which is still in force today after the implementation of 'Jyotigram Yojana' in villages. Before it was decided to provide electricity to the rural area (village level) through Jyotigram for 3/4 hours in the villages, agriculture and lighting was provided in the villages through GEB's rural feeder. Which had a lot of irregularities. In contrast to the intermittent distribution in three phase agriculture, farmers used electricity using Capacitor-Tata, which had no quality of electricity and no continuity. The objective is to provide uninterrupted and quality and reliable electricity to the power consumers as per the Electricity Act-2006. When the Jyotigram scheme was implemented, instead of the original rural feeders, new Feeder (Segregation of Feeder) (JGY) was introduced for Jyotigram so that the village could get 3/4 hours of uninterrupted power supply and I am satisfied that the greatest complacency during my service. As Secretary of GEB and later M.D. of Discom. As the main contribution in the formulation and implementation of Jyotigram scheme is technically with the implementation of Jyotigram. However, since the agriculture feeder was originally converted to a rural feeder, its conductor wires and fixtures are old and this feeder is long and passes through more than one village, due to a fault, it is not possible to get eight hours of electricity in any village area. Even today, if the feeder is interrupted for a long time, the same amount of power is supplied from the feeder of the respective sub station in the form of electricity compensation. When the decision was taken to provide eight hours of electricity to the agriculture sector, then Gujarat's installed capacity load management (power frequency) peak hours (9 to 12 in the morning, 6 to 10 in the evening) / demand for power supply in non-peak hours, increasing over abstraction in Gujarat. Zone, Dark Zone Water Conservation, Considering all these aspects, it was decided to provide eight hours of electricity to agriculture considering the average holding of the farmer and when continuous / quality eight hours of power is given, the farmers did not mind and The government also gave incentives to adopt micro irrigation scheme for ground water storage and water management and for that Gujarat Green Revolution Company (GGRC) was formed and many farmers adopted micro irrigation system to maximize water use, increase productivity, increase soil fertility, Etc. There have also been benefits. At present Agriculture Feeders of four power distribution companies North-400, South-2, Central-2, West Saurashtra-2 have the highest agricultural consumption in North Gujarat and Saurashtra and have about 3 lakh agricultural consumers.

The role of the above situation, the current situation and the circumstances under which eight hours of electricity should be provided in the agricultural sector, the current situation in the power sector of Gujarat, load management in the agricultural sector, the prevailing agricultural power rate, in addition to the 12 zoning practices There is a need for radical change in 'Agriculture Zone System' as a long term solution and its main reasons are change in power sector over a period of 3 years, availability of sufficient power, climate, climate, change in cropping system and increase in command area especially due to Narmada project, Sujalam Sulaf. Schemes, check dams, urbanization / industrialization of agricultural lands, non-agricultural use, all these aspects have led to a radical change in power consumption in agriculture. Since then, the state government has announced and implemented 'Sardar Krishi Vidyut Yojana', now Suryodaya Yojana etc., and as part of increasing the use of non-conventional electricity, an approach is also being adopted to make some agriculture feeders solar based. At the same time, in the way in which power is given in the form of sub-sided against cost to service in Gujarat, how can rationalization of tariff be done in phases and without adopting political point of view in power sector (Apolitical) I claim that quality power is given in states which give free power Not at all. E.g. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Telangana etc. and the power sector should be allowed to work in the best interests of the consumers in a professionally apolitical manner. In view of the circumstances mentioned above for changing the zone of Agriculture Feeder, under the chairmanship of an expert engineer of Load Dispatch Center, experts from power distribution / manufacturing companies, experts in agriculture, experts from Irrigation Department, IRMA and other active farmers' associations were formed. And if it is implemented, the current situation that has arisen will be resolved in the long run. It is hoped that Gujarat, like Jyotigram, will take the initiative in providing electricity to agriculture. (Complete)